Workshop Theme

The social and human aspects of Business Process Management (BPM) refer to considering people within the framework of BPM practices. This encompasses how individuals interact with each other within business processes, how they are affected by those processes, and how their behavior and social interactions influence the design, management, and improvement of business processes. Here are a few key points:

Human-Centric BPM:

At its core, BPM involves people. While processes can be automated, it's essential to design them with the users in mind, ensuring they are intuitive, efficient, and improve the work experience. This might involve ergonomic considerations, user experience design, and the reduction of cognitive load. AI-based assistants like ChatGPT and Alexa offer intuitive conversational interfaces, simplifying human interaction with business processes. The declarative interface of these assistants allows users to state out-comes rather than processes, placing the complexity of business process execution on AI, not the user. AI-based assistants consolidate multiple services and information sources to fulfil diverse user requests efficiently. AI assistants personalize interactions and adapt to user preferences, enhancing satisfaction and engagement.

Social Interactions and Platforms

Processes often require collaboration and communication between stakeholders. Understanding these interactions can design processes that enhance teamwork, information exchange, and decision-making. Platforms, especially social ones, play a key role by fostering environments for value creation. They connect participants flexibly, facilitating information and innovation flow across the network, leading to organic, bottom-up business process definitions, unlike rigid, top-down approaches.

Social production on these platforms allows collective content creation and problem-solving, leveraging diverse strengths and insights of a broad user base. It empowers individuals in process design, resulting in more robust and accepted processes. The egalitarian nature of social platforms democratizes decision-making, with decisions emerging from the collective rather than a central authority, potentially leading to more equitable and effective outcomes.

Incorporating these interactions opens new avenues for process design, bringing a more adaptable and innovative approach to BPM. It also signifies a shift in BPM towards more participatory, inclusive, and collaborative roles. This evolution reflects a broader trend in organizational design, making processes more human-centric and aligned with social business principles.

Human-AI Collaboration in BPM

BPM now revolves around human-AI collaboration, with AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude providing intuitive conversational interfaces that streamline process interaction and execution. These assistants allow declarative process definition, consolidate services and information sources, and offer personalized interactions. Their natural language interfaces reduce cognitive load and enable democratic pro-cess design through collective input and refinement.

Organizational Culture 

The adoption of new processes or the transformation of existing ones often requires changes in the organizational culture. Addressing human aspects involves managing the change process, including training, support, and addressing resistance to change. Effective BPM requires strong leadership and engagement at all levels of the organization. Leaders must understand the social dynamics of their teams to foster a culture that supports continuous process improvement. Understanding what motivates employees and designing processes that align with these motivators can improve job satisfaction and performance. This includes considering incentives and rewards systems. As processes evolve, so must the skills of the people who execute them. A focus on training, personal development, and knowledge management is crucial.

Ethical Considerations, Diversity and Inclusion

BPM must be guided by ethical principles, ensuring that processes are fair, transparent, and do not exploit or discriminate against any group of people. Processes should be designed to be inclusive, considering the needs of a diverse workforce and customer base. The natural interaction with digital assistants makes business processes more accessible to all users, promoting inclusivity. 

Human-Centric BPM Design: Exploring ergonomic considerations, user experience, and cognitive load reduction in process automation.

AI in BPM: The role of AI-based assistants in simplifying interactions and personalizing user experience within BPM.

Social Interaction in BPM: Analyzing how social dynamics influence process design for improved teamwork and decision-making.

Platform-Facilitated Collaboration: The impact of social platforms on creating flexible, dynamic networks for BPM.

Social Production and Process Design: Investigating collective content creation and bottom-up process definition through participatory platforms.

Democratic Process Management: The effects of egalitarian decision-making in BPM facilitated by social platforms.

Organizational Culture and Change Management: Strategies for managing cultural transformation in the context of BPM.

Leadership and Engagement: The role of leadership in fostering a culture supportive of BPM and continuous improvement.

Employee Motivation in BPM: How incentives and rewards systems can align with BPM to improve job satisfaction and performance.

Skills Development in BPM: Addressing the evolving training and development needs within BPM practice.

Ethical BPM Practices: Ensuring fairness, transparency, and non-discrimination in BPM.

Diversity and Inclusion in BPM: Designing inclusive BPM practices that cater to diverse workforces and customer bases.